Hit the road for a "One-Tank Trip" around Southern Ontario.
Adventures worth the drive from the syndicated newspaper/web column by Jim Fox

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Holiday fun to bring in the New Year

One Tank Trip published Dec. 24/25, 2011

(c) By Jim Fox

Looking for some fun over the holidays?

Bring in the New Year at the “Honeymoon Capital of the World,” talk to the animals, check out Leonardo da Vinci’s Workshop or make gingerbread at the fort.

Colourful fireworks over Niagara Falls help to welcome 2012 at a free party at Queen Victoria Park.

Lighting up the night sky

Spectacular fireworks over the falls help to welcome 2012 in Niagara Falls.

Some 40,000 people are expected for the free concert in Queen Victoria Park starting at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 31.

There will be fireworks at 8:45 p.m. for the kids who need to go to bed early and then at midnight for everyone else.

Called the “largest outdoor New Year's Eve party in Canada,” there are food and beverage vendors, as well as an outdoor licensed area.

Alt-rock legends Our Lady Peace keep the party rocking as the clock ticks down to midnight with pop/punk group Simple Plan, one of Canada's most prolific bands, taking to the stage for a rousing finish.

There is ice skating at the Rink on the Brink adjacent to the Table Rock Welcome Centre overlooking the falls.

Thousands will jam into Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls for a party to bring in 2012.

New is Winter Wonderland through Jan. 8 with activities including an ice castle, Snowflake Honour Guard, Victorian Candy Land, winter carousel , hot chocolate and making s’mores over an open fire.

While touring Fort York (250 Fort York Blvd.) in Toronto, children can join the cooks in the Officers' Mess kitchen to create old-fashioned gingerbread cookies.

A “hands-on” workshop from Dec. 27 to 31 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. uses period cooking utensils and tools to sift flour, crush cinnamon, cloves or allspice and grate nutmeg and ginger following an 1800’s gingerbread recipe.

Cookies will be baked over the open hearth fire and samples can be taken home – if they last that long.

Also at the fort until Dec. 31 (except Dec. 25, 26) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays (5 p.m., weekends), visitors can experience winter from 1812 to see how troops coped with the cold.

Military posts in Canada were considered the coldest, harshest posts in the British Empire and this tour includes sampling baking from the 1826 Officers' Mess kitchen and warming by a crackling wood fire.